


One Last Day

by hutchabelle



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6464065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hutchabelle/pseuds/hutchabelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peeta wishes for one more day with his beloved wife of over sixty years, but life has a cruel way of threatening happiness. Prompt: Marigold/Cruelty; trigger warning: cancer</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Day

“What are you thinking?” he practically whispers, his voice almost reverent in the quiet of the room.

 

Katniss shifts her eyes toward him and smiles weakly. Her lips just barely curve, and her throat bobs as she tries to speak. Peeta squeezes her hand gently and attempts to ignore the tightness in his chest. His heart aches as his eyes rake over his wife who’s covered by thin white sheets. She’s fragile, a shadow of her former self since cancer has ravaged her body.

 

“You don’t have to say anything, sweetheart,” he says, his voice choked in a sob. “Besides, I bet I can read your mind since I know you so well.”

 

Katniss questions him silently, her eyes challenging him to tell her what she wants to verbalize.

 

“I bet you’re thinking something to the effect of…‘I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever.’” He grins as she mock glares at him. “I’m so right,” he teases. “I’ve always been good with words, you know.”

 

Peeta shifts in his seat as the hospice nurse enters the room to check Katniss’ vitals. “Hi, Helen,” he offers in greeting.

 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Mellark. How are you both today?”

 

“As well as can be expected.”

 

“I understand, sir,” Helen murmurs sympathetically. “Mrs. Mellark, you let me know if he gets out of control, okay? I’m here for your comfort, and this one is a character.” The nurse beams as her patient’s lips quirk upward. “That’s it, dear. Remember, just hit the button if you need anything. I’ll be right outside.”

 

Peeta returns his attention to the woman he’s loved for the past seven decades and wonders how so much time has passed since he first saw the little girl with two dark braids down her back. They’ve lived a lifetime together, and Peeta still isn’t ready to let her go. Unfortunately, circumstances aren’t giving him much of a choice, and he’s struggling to accept that reality.

 

“Earth to Peeta,” she jokes in a raspy, unpracticed voice. “Where’d you go?”

 

He smiles at her tenderly and kisses the back of her hand. “I went back to one of those days.  Want to hear about it?”

 

At her nod, he allows himself to fall into the memory.

 

****

 

“It’s a girl,” the doctor announced proudly as he held the squirming bundle in his hands. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Mellark. She’s a perfectly healthy baby.”

 

Peeta’s eyes flooded with tears as he registered the doctor’s words. He was a father to a baby girl, and his wife was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in spite of having just spent several hours in hard labor. An exhausted smile graced her face as Katniss reached to take the squirming bundle from the doctor’s arms.

 

They held her together, their daughter, the perfect extension of their love for each other packaged into a tiny body. They counted her ten fingers and toes and argued over whether the color of her eyes more closely reflected Peeta’s blue gaze or Katniss’ silver one. They kissed the top of her head that was covered only by a soft, downy fuzz, before the nurses took her away.

 

Peeta napped next to Katniss until their daughter was returned to them and they spent their first night together as a family. Despite the fatigue, he couldn’t quell the excitement and joy that rolled through him in waves.

 

Katniss beamed with happiness as she held her daughter and pulled him to her for a kiss. “What are you thinking, sweetie?”

 

He swallowed against the lump in his throat and confessed, “I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever.”

 

She gazed at him, her eyes soft with affection, and replied, “I feel exactly the same way.”

 

****

 

“That’s one of my favorite memories too,” Katniss admits in a hushed voice.

 

Despite the years that have passed since that day, Peeta can still see his wife’s face as she took on the burden and blessing of motherhood. As he blinks, her wrinkles and sunken eyes shift to smooth skin and rounded cheeks.

 

 _This is so unfair_ , he screams internally, but that word doesn’t begin to quantify the injustice of their situation. _It’s cruel_ , he realizes, but cancer is rarely merciful. They’re luckier than most that the disease targeted her late in life and not when they were young, naïve, and hopelessly in love.

 

“I have others,” he divulges. “We’ve had so many of those times together.”

 

She nods and struggles to swallow. She gasps a few times before stuttering, “T-tell me another, Peeta.”

 

“Always.”

 

****

 

Peeta stood at the front of the church flanked by the minister on one side and his brothers and closest friends on the other. He shifted back and forth nervously as Prim and Katniss’ friends pranced down the aisle and took their spots on the opposite side of the altar. The music swelled, and the guests turned their attention to the back of the sanctuary where an angel stood on the arm of her handsome father. It seemed to take forever for her to join him, for her hands to find his and their lips to join together in a blissful kiss.

 

They spent the reception wrapped in each other’s arms, barely parting long enough to feed each other cake and toss the bouquet. The wedding night passed in a haze of love and lust, joined together, panting for breath, and climaxing as one.

 

As they lay together, drained but sated, she kissed his neck and whispered, “What are you thinking, sweetie?”

 

He dropped a kiss on her temple and trailed his palm down her back to the soft curve of her hip. “I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever.”

 

****

 

Katniss raises her hand to caress her wedding band, which Peeta wears on a chain around his neck. When she started losing weight, her fingers had shriveled so much that she was afraid she’d lose it. In the hopes of easing her anxiety, he’d offered to keep it safe for her. Her eyes gleam, and she murmurs, “I love you even more today than I did when I walked down the aisle toward you.”

 

He chokes back another sob, so broken at the thought of losing her he wants to scream. He’s always hoped they’d go together, or, selfishly, that he’d be the one to pass first so that he’d never have to live a day without her. Unfortunately, the world has other ideas, and in a cruel twist of fate, he’ll most likely last a while after she’s gone.

 

Thankfully, he and Katniss have lived a life that provides a number of reasons for him to remain invested in what remains. Their daughter alone is enough for Peeta to stay positive, and she’s joined by the son he and Katniss brought into the world a few years after they’d become first-time parents and the grandchildren that brightened their twilight years. Their last family photo was taken at their sixtieth wedding anniversary and included four generations of Mellarks. One of their granddaughters had been pregnant with her first child.

 

“I didn’t think I could love you more than I did when you became my wife,” he blubbers, and she raises her index finger to his trembling lips to quiet him.

 

“No tears, darling,” she chides him. “We’ve had an incredible life together.”

 

He kisses her fingertip and gives her a watery smile. “I want one more day—and then another and then another after that. Even this one.”

 

She drops her hand and shifts slightly in an attempt to get comfortable, and he’s reminded of another precious moment.

 

****

 

“It’s almost midnight, Peeta. If you’re going to have anything else to eat, I’d suggest you do it now,” Katniss called from the kitchen.

 

Peeta entered the room quickly and moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her naked body against his bare chest. “I can only think of one thing I really want at this point,” he growled as his hand trailed to the juncture between her thighs and dipped a finger into the heat there.

 

“Peeta,” she moaned as she shifted her hips to create more friction.

 

“Yeah, baby?” he asked as his hot breath caressed her neck. “You ready for a late night snack?”

 

She yelped in reply, and he swept her into his arms to carry her down the hall to their bedroom. He was grateful to her for spending the night keeping his mind off the medical tests he was scheduled to undergo the next day, but all he wanted now was to bury his tongue inside her and make her scream his name. If bad news was forthcoming, he wanted to enjoy every last second before a problem was confirmed.

 

His wife spread open for him, and he ducked his head. He groaned at the taste of her on his tongue and felt his own arousal grow as she whimpered and pled for more. He feasted on her, his lips and tongue exploring every crevice and drawing cries of pleasure so intense he felt each one in his cock. When his erection throbbed so hard it hurt, he drew her nub into his mouth and suckled until she tightened and snapped like a bow string.

 

“Peeta,” she moaned and pulled at his blonde curls as the last spasms of her orgasm faded.

 

He lapped at her lips and then moved up her body to find her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his waist and reached down to guide him to her. He grunted her name as she sheathed him, and he settled into a steady rhythm.

 

“Fuck me, you feel so good, baby,” he panted between thrusts. They stopped speaking after that. Her feminine cries of approval echoed in the room with his masculine groans. He strained against her and dropped his head as he spilled inside her. He couldn’t catch his breath for a moment as he jerked and twitched.

 

It took him several minutes to regain his strength.  When he did, he shifted off her and cradled her in his arms. He relished in the feel of her slickened skin against his and sighed with happiness when she trailed her fingertips lightly across his chest.

 

“I’m sure everything will go fine tomorrow, Peeta. Please don’t be worried. I know you’re going to be okay,” she said softly and punctuated it with a kiss on the curve of his neck.

 

“How can you be sure?” he asked, his voice shaking with fatigue and nervousness.

 

“Because I have no intention of living without you,” she teased. “We’re going to grow old together and make babies and travel and celebrate a hundred more anniversaries. I know it.” When he didn’t answer, she raised her head and caught his gaze. “What are you thinking, sweetie?”

 

“I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever,” he breathed. “It’s perfect.”

 

“You always say that when I ask,” she said with a wide smile.

 

He kissed the tip of her nose and stated firmly, “And it’s always the truth.”

 

****

 

“I was right that night, you know,” Katniss says with an arched eyebrow, and he chuckles at her incessant need to be correct.

 

“You were, but the best part came nine months later.” Peeta’s eyes drift to the picture frame on the bedside table. It was taken at the birth of their daughter almost nine months to the day that Peeta underwent the scan that confirmed the dark spot on his brain was benign. It was almost as if Katniss had spoken their future into existence that night, and he wishes now that she could do it again.

 

“The best part was every single day with you,” she mumbles. Her eyelids droop, and he knows she won’t be awake much longer.

 

“How am I going to survive without you?” he asks, his voice broken.

 

“Well, it’ll be awful,” she jokes. “I am wonderful.”

 

He snorts at her ability to use levity even during the worst of times. That’s usually his gift, but she’s learned to copy him over the years.

 

“Tell me about the first time, Peeta,” she implores, her words slurring as she fights sleep.

 

“Of course, darling.”

 

****

 

“You look beautiful,” he whispered as he led her onto the rooftop of his apartment building and smiled at her surprised gasp. Her eyes widened as she took in the twinkling lights that decorated the space above a small table. On it sat a rich chocolate cake and a bowl of strawberries. In a short vase, sat a bundle of dandelions and marigolds—her favorite flowers mixed with his. She claimed to adore the yellow that reminded her of his golden hair and the way the petals transformed to white fluff and spread on the wind. Peeta loved the way the dark orange hue of marigolds faded to the color of dandelions at the center. He liked to think he and Katniss were linked in every way possible, even with flowers.

 

“What is this?” she asked in awe as he led her to stand under the lights and kissed her softly.

 

“Katniss Everdeen, I love you more than I can ever explain, and I don’t want one more day to pass without being bound to you forever. I know this might seem sudden; I know you wonder sometimes if loving someone is worth it, but I also know that every second I’m with you is the best one of my life. Please, Katniss, will you marry me?”

 

His voice trembled on the last few words, and he swallowed hard to quell his nerves. Her silver eyes widened in shocked and studied him as if she couldn’t quite convince herself that he was serious. He released her and sank to one knee before pulling a ring from his pocket and offering it to her.

 

Her face crumpled, and she covered her mouth in disbelief. “Do you mean it?” she gasped.

 

“With everything I have.”

 

“Then yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Yes forever, Peeta.”

 

His eyes swam with emotion as he slid the diamond encrusted pearl ring onto her finger and rose to kiss his fiancée. “I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever,” he gasped.

 

“I’ll allow it,” she teased as his mouth covered hers.

 

****

 

She smiled weakly and blinked her watery eyes. Her palm covered her heart, and he knew she was too emotional to speak.

 

“Thank you for making so many of my days ones I wanted to freeze and live in forever,” he murmured as he stroked her cheek.

 

“I wish I could give you one more,” she rasped.

 

He smiled and shook his head. “No regrets, baby.”

 

“You’ll stay with me, won’t you, Peeta?” she whispered.

 

“Until the very end, Katniss. Always.”


End file.
